


Bellanaris

by Xenrae



Category: Dragon Age II
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Devotion, Knotting, Love, M/M, Mating Bites
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-18
Updated: 2015-01-18
Packaged: 2018-03-08 00:17:54
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,692
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3188651
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xenrae/pseuds/Xenrae
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Garrett Hawke finally finds his omega in the form of a warrior elf who doesn't want to belong to anyone.</p><p>A short telling of the Fenris/Hawke romance, from the Alpha/Beta/Omega perspective.<br/>Intended as an introduction to the Omegaverse trope.<br/>Warning: Includes rough sex.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Beach

**Author's Note:**

> **A/N:**
> 
>  
> 
> This tale of Fenris and Hawke was written as an a/b/o primer for a dear friend who had never heard of a/b/o. That is, it is a bit over-explained deliberately, so that anyone who doesn't know the omegaverse will have a better understanding of it when they get to the end.
> 
> A note for anyone new to a/b/o: Writers write this trope differently. These are the basics, but prepare to have to adjust your thinking when you're reading other author's works. Sometimes that's the best part. 
> 
> There is definitely biting in here. Leaving a mark is just _so_ erotic ;)
> 
> Also, sex can be fairly aggressive for these guys. If that's not your thing, be warned.
> 
> My undying gratitude to mlp_buttons for her amazing and speedy beta work and friendship. I am so lucky to know you. 333

□.□.□.□.□.□

Hawke and Fenris were yards ahead of Varric and Sebastian on the beach.  They'd been hunting slavers all day in the sun, and everyone was near ready to head for town.  Somewhere up ahead the smoke of a fire could be seen and the group had decided to investigate as their one last adventure for the day.

"Fenris..." Hawke said, and the elf turned around.  "What is it, Hawke?"  The mage walked up behind him, circling his arms around his waist, and leaned against his neck.

"Hawke this really isn't the place for that, is it?  What are you -" the elf cut himself off with sudden realization.  "Alright, enough.  I have three more days."

Hawke inhaled, breathing in the sweat and smell of him, then again, mouth slightly open.  Before he even defined the scent, his alpha body responded, blood pressure rising, an erection beginning to press against his laces. 

"You're in heat, Fenris.  We have to get you out of here."

"Hawke, I am not.  I'm sweating in the sun.  I have three more days."

" _Da'mi_ , I can smell you, and any minute Sebastian will, too.  Worse, if we don't get you out of here, the slavers will.  Come on, Fen, let me take care of you," he purred into his mate's ear.  "We need to get you home."

Fenris thought Hawke was mad.  His heat wasn't for three more days.  It was only the sun, and the sweat, not the crippling hormones and impending loss of control. 

Then Hawke leaned into his neck again, scenting him, and when his arms tightened around the omega's waist , the renewed touch sent sparks of arousal racing across the elf's skin.  Now, the sun was getting to him, and Maker, he needed water.

He shivered, unconsciously pushing his body back against the alpha, and he knew.  "Hawke... we don't have time to get back home.  Every alpha in Kirkwall will be on me if we go through the city.  Take me into the woods if you must... just... Hawke, do _something_... "  The elf had turned around and was clinging to Hawke's chest, partly panicked, partly feeling the undeniable flood of hormones wash over him, the kicking on of the furnace that would compel him to mate.  And Hawke, his alpha, could smell every second of it.

Fenris was losing it.  The imperative to mate taking over.  He wanted Hawke, needed him, and would end up in the sand, curled up in a ball of pain if he didn't have him.  "Hawke, please... " he moaned into the caster's chest.  For Hawke the nightmare was just as bad.  His lovely omega was clawing at him, begging him to fill him and end the painful need.  Stranded here out in the open on the sandy beach there was nothing he could do to comfort him.  Nothing he was willing to do, anyway.  Then the sweet and perfect scent of the elf engulfed him, racing through his blood and brain, tugging at his alpha instinct to mount and breed with the heating omega, and do it _now_. 

"Shh, Fen.  It's alright.  I'll take care of you," he whispered, brushing the elf's hair from his face, calming his mate and reminding himself that the omega's care was all that mattered.

Varric and Sebastian were only a few yards away when they saw the trembling elf and stopped.  Varric was a beta, and this kind of thing had little effect on him.  He could smell the heat, but it did nothing to arouse him.  Sebastian, on the other hand, was an alpha, and the omega's heat scent was impossible to ignore.  The priest felt his body react to the elf and he fell to his knees,  beginning the Chant of Light.  Alphas were not permitted in the Chantry for the very reason that it was nearly impossible to remain chaste.  Sebastian, however, had been the exception to the rules his whole life, and although tested more than once by a breeding omega, his prayer had always saved him.

"Hawke, can I do anything?"  from Varric.  The dwarf was no fool.  Fenris would soon lose any regard for safety, or humility, and that wasn't something he wanted to see - for either of them.  And then there was that part where alpha Hawke was likely to take the head off of anybody who got close to his mate.  Varric kept his distance.

"I have to get him out of here fast, Varric.  Suggestions?"

"Maker, Hawke.  We're miles from everywhere.  Let me think," he shouted back, then disappeared up the hillside toward town.

Omegas come into heat usually on a schedule they can predict, usually once every three months or so.  The hard part lasts about three days, or less depending on the virility of their mate, whether or not they are bonded, and whether or not they'd been knotted in recent memory.  Fenris and Hawke were bonded, so the elf's heat was usually brief, but that didn't help now.  In the next twenty minutes or so, he would be completely consumed by it.

Hawke looked down at him again, unconsciously inhaling his scent, and saw that the elf's skin was coloring pink, and the sweat of his brow was getting worse.  He ran his finger gently over the scar of their bonding bite, whispering comfort and concern.  It had been a year since Hawke had marked him, and in spite of the growing turmoil in Kirkwall, the best year of his life.  It was nearly white now, though obviously visible to other alphas who dared get close enough to look.  They could all smell an omega in heat, but the scent of one with a mate was different, a warning.  This didn't stop their primal urge to mount and take him, but it did let them know it wouldn't be easy.  Against the Champion of Kirkwall, it would be suicide.

As for knotting, alphas don't get more virile than Hawke, and he and Fenris had shared that passion and intimacy only the night before.  That would make the cycle shorter, not put it off longer.  They were running out of time.

Hawke scanned the horizon for Varric, but saw nothing.  Fenris would be incoherent by the time they got to the manor.  He would be moaning, clawing at his clothes, begging Hawke, or any other alpha who came by, to relieve him of his need.  The awful truth was that, loving his omega as he did, Hawke would be challenged to deny him.  It wasn't just the agony he'd have to watch the elf endure, it was his own primal alpha urge to protect him, to calm him, to take care of him... and to fuck him until they couldn't anymore. 

The scent was moving fast through the mage's brain.  He was aroused and his mate was already in his arms.  It was hard to resist.  Taking a deep breath, he pushed back against his own instincts again, and lifted the elf, still moaning and clinging, his mouth licking and biting at Hawke's neck, and carried him down to the water, and into the sea.

The cold immediately gave Fenris relief.  He opened his eyes, and the grabbing and pleading finally stopped.  "Hawke, please get me home.  I don't want this to happen out here.  I know it's hard for you, but _please_ , get me home first."

That was all it took to push back the chaos in Hawke's body and brain.  It was as difficult for a bonded alpha to hurt or deny their omega, as it was for an omega to displease their bonded alpha.  They were one, the perfect pair, always in perfect balance, always what each other needed.

Hawke kissed the his mate's forehead, ignoring his own unrelenting desire, "I promise, Fen.  I'll get you home."

□.□.□

A few minutes later, Varric returned with a horse, and with Sebastian's prayers and avoidance, Hawke rode it, holding Fenris against his chest, through the streets of Kirkwall and back to the privacy and safety of the manor.

The elf's heat was full on by the time they got there and his scent was sending Hawke over the edge. Whispering words of love and tenderness, he carried Fenris to their room and gently laid his tortured lover on the bed. Now, the elf was a frantic mess of hormones and animal desire.  He pulled and ripped at his clothes, moaning and writhing, arching his hips at nothing, pleading for Hawke, needing his mate to take him, to fill him, to breed him. 

And it was getting harder for his mate to resist.

□.□.□.□.□.□


	2. Their Beginning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There was something in the air, that night in the alienage.

□.□.□.□.□.□

Fenris and Hawke had been undeniably drawn together from the moment they first met.  As was often the case with unbonded alphas and omegas, their body chemistry signaled the compatibility of a mate almost as soon as they encountered each other - even from across a room.  From there, instinct took over and a potential mate would seek out the source of the intoxicating pull relentlessly, until the bond was completed with the bite or some other circumstance proved them wrong.  Nature was hardly ever wrong.

From the instant of their first meeting in an alley at the Kirkwall alienage, Hawke had felt the tingle and urge of a desirable omega in Fenris.  Standing in the lamplight, corpses all around, he had listened to the oddly marked elf with only half of his attention. The other half was fully absorbed in how beautiful the elf was, how his hair shined in the subdued light and how desperately the mage wanted to bury his face in the pale Elvhen neck, drawing in the sweet cinnamon and orange smell of him.  He would only find out later that the alluring elf had been drawn to him as well.

□.□.□

Fenris didn't want an alpha, and especially didn't want to bond with one. Omega warriors are always this conflicted. The brutality a warrior carries in his weapon arm, and his heart, lives in absolute contrast to the nurturing, submissive nature of an omega. It is rare that an omega would choose this path, but Fenris had come from hard and painful beginnings, and the strength it took to overcome this had defined him in spite of nature. It was because of this that the elf fought against his bond with the mage tooth and nail. After weeks of facing one challenge after another together, he had admitted to himself that Hawke was _his_ alpha, that the pull between them was indeed that strong - and for more reasons than just biology - but the idea of being owned, of belonging to someone, even someone he loved, was too much.

It was months before Hawke was able to mate him, but courtship was often part of the dance between pairs, and Hawke faced this challenge with the same determination he had faced all others, and eventually Fenris gave in...

□.□.□.□.□.□

Fenris should have known that going out tonight was a bad idea, but the next few days were going to be hell and this was his last opportunity to feel normal until it was over.  According to his schedule, he had at least twelve hours before heat, and he wanted food, and wine, and even the company of the annoying dwarf, so he'd headed to the Hanged Man to see what he could find.

He'd been disappointed to find that Hawke wasn't here.  Lately his thoughts about Hawke, his desire for him, had become a full on distraction.  He cursed his biology silently, again, and settled in at a table with Varric.  They ate and drank together, he and the dwarf, laughing as Varric told another one of his tales, and every now and then he would lift his face, testing the air for a sign of the mage, but there was nothing.

"Fenris, cut it out.  He'll be here," from Varric, who was kidding more than prodding.  "He's mad about you, you know.  I can't see why you're putting off the inevitable.  Everybody but you knows how this will end."  He smiled fondly, and winked, but Fenris was nonetheless irritated.

"Varric, I _know_ how it will end, but that doesn't make it as simple as you suggest.  Would you want to be owned?"  Fenris grumbled the words.  They had had this discussion before.

"I'm a beta, Fenris.  That's all well and good, but if you're asking me if I'd enjoy the thrill of being so meaningful to a mate's life that we could actually die without each other, the answer is yes, I would.  Go ahead and own me.  And it's really not like that anyway. You don't know how good you've got it with him, my friend."  The dwarf sighed, wistfully, "Anyway, we've been down this road.  You do what you've got to do.  I'm just a spectator."  Varric grinned at the elf, who smirked back, friendly enough.  It was then that Fenris caught a man at the bar staring and the passing glance of another one from across the room.  It was time to go.

He stood, checking for Hawke again, and again was disappointed.  "Looks like I need to cut out early, Varric.  I'll be busy a few days," he said with a smile at the dwarf.  "Thanks for the company.  Mind yourself."  The dwarf had picked up the scent by then and offered a wink back.  "I'll be sure to send Hawke around if I see him," he taunted and laughed, knowing that was the very last thing Fenris wanted him to do.  Going through heat alone was excruciating, but the elf had decided long ago that he would not mate with Hawke because his treacherous body compelled him to.  Consent was a questionable thing with a heating omega, and the former slave would let nothing force him into something he wasn't ready for, including the hormones that polluted his blood.  _Most_ of all the intoxicating pheromones of the captivating alpha mage.

Fenris left in the dark and quiet night air, unaware that he was being followed.  The fog of heat was coming, and he was distracted by the chaos of aromas that drifted through the air.  He was only twenty paces from the tavern when the pungent musk of alpha fell upon him. The elf spun and drew his sword.

A dark figure, then two more, emerged from the shadows.  The tallest of them spoke, the greasy ugly words falling from his mouth like spoiled meat.  "Ah, pretty omega all alone in the night. "  He made a deliberate gesture of sniffing the air then spewed again, "You're in heat, omega.  Perhaps you'd like the boys and I to give you a hand with that?"

Fenris waved the sword through the air in front of them.  "You touch me and your diseased cock will not be the only thing I remove from your body, alpha," Fenris hissed back, raising the sword to point at the stranger's neck.

Fenris struggled to draw in a breath, feeling the hormones begin to surge, his heat coming sooner than planned, sooner in fact than might be manageable.  The leader took another step forward and Fenris took a step back.  The acrid smell of all three of the alphas was now discernible on the wind, separate and distinct.  The elf felt his body respond, and then the immediate need to vomit the dinner he had just consumed.  Maker, no...

An omega in heat is driven by only one thing: the agonizing, uncontrollable need to mate.  Fenris was no more able to stop his body from wanting penetration than he was to stop it from breathing.  He could feel it washing over him as the alpha pheromones polluted his brain.  In the haze of a heat cycle, it wouldn't matter who - or where - but Fenris wasn't yet blessed with that ignorance.  He was still aware of himself, and the filthy scum who were advancing on him, and terror and humiliation began to press on his mind.  The shadows advanced again.  "Come on then, elf.  You know you want it.  Let's have a go, just the four of -"

The man's words were cut off instantly as a ball of fire exploded in his chest.  He collapsed to the ground, dead before he fell.  Fenris turned, sword raised again, only to find Hawke, another fireball swirling in his hand, ready to kill again.  "Run, you filthy maggots.  You've got 'til count of two..." the mage uttered in rage.  The remaining shadows were gone before the count of one.

Hawke ran to Fenris' side, pulling him into his arms.  "Fenris... Maker, tell me you're alright."  He held him close, stroking his hair.  The elf, whose heat had been brought fully on by the scent of his mate, pulled on the mage's tunic, leaning against him.  "Yes, I'm - I need to get home."  And the alpha, spurred on by the need to take care of him, and fighting the impulse to breed him every step of the way, took him home.

□.□.□

They spent three days together, at Hawke's manor, because the rotting mansion that Fenris inhabited offered little comfort.  In his last moments of clarity, Fenris admitted to himself that his desire to be naked and willing in Hawke's bed had little to do with being an omega and everything to do with being a man.  He told Hawke so, and the mage was only happy to finally oblige. 

There was no breathtaking sweetness of a first time together.  In the full fog of the heat cycle, good intentions were meaningless, and they rutted and fucked with reckless abandon.  There were moments when the intensity lifted, and Hawke would hold the omega tight in his arms, murmuring words of praise and desire, and then the urge would consume them again, and Fenris would plead for the feel of the mage inside him, and Hawke would be there, over and over, mating until exhaustion necessitated sleep.

On the third day, Hawke scented the soft, salty stretch of the omega's neck, and knew that it was nearly over.   At last they had mated, and the warmth and devotion he felt for his omega was brighter than the sun.  "Fenris..." he nuzzled into his ear.  The elf arched back against him, pulling the alpha's arm tight against his chest.   "Hmm..." he murmured, still half asleep.  Hawke moved back, rolling the elf over to face him, and Fenris opened his eyes, smiling up at him. 

"Fenris, I love you.  There is nothing I wouldn't do for you.  I want our bond complete, Fen. I'm ready to mark you, but I won't if you tell me no." The mage was hopeful, but already suspected the answer.

Fenris blinked, the haze of sleep and the quiet comfort of Hawke's arms around him suddenly gone from his mind.  "Hawke, I - I ...." he trailed off, sitting up then in the bed.  He looked down at his hands, voice soft and full of regret.  "Hawke, I can't.  I love you, and I am _your_ omega, in all the ways that matter.  But I can't let you own me.  I just can't."  Hawke said nothing, watching as Fenris dressed.  The elf looked back over his shoulder before he left, sorrow in his eyes.  "It's too much, Hawke.  Forgive me."

The next time he saw him, Fenris wore Hawke's favor tied around his wrist.  The cloth was the bright red of the Amell family crest, and couldn't be missed against the dark armor of the warrior's arm.  They shared a smile about it, but never a word.  It wasn't the bond bite Hawke wanted between them, and would mean nothing to a hungry alpha, but it meant enough to him. 

As it turned out, things would only get more difficult. Their talk of final bonding had pushed the warrior even further away than before.

□.□.□

Over the next year, Fenris fell into heat three times, and Hawke spent each of them with him.  Now that they had mated, sustaining the unspoken tension about their bond wasn't worth the suffering the omega would endure without him.  Fenris carefully took the herbs that prevented pregnancy, and each time, the alpha would fill him and sate his cravings.  When it was over, he would bathe his lovely omega, showering him with tenderness and praise for the bruising, biting and spreading he'd gone through again.  Each time, Fenris would leave when it was over and they wouldn't speak of it again

The pair spent most of their days together, adventuring and facing the crises of the city, but rarely in each other's beds.  The warrior elf never stopped fighting the pull of the connection to his mate, and he was often cold, brooding and distant.  As the strongest alpha in Kirkwall, Hawke could have tended his desires elsewhere, but there was more than chemistry between he and the elf, and he simply wasn't interested.  He loved Fenris, and took care of him, and waited for him.

The year went by...

□.□.□.□.□.□ 

A change had come over Fenris in the few days since Danarius had fallen in a bloody heap on the tavern floor.  He was more calm and more relaxed than before.  Hawke would never mention it out loud, but he was sure he was seeing more omega and less resistance.  Yes, the alpha in him responded to seeing his omega soften and feel joy, but Hawke the man was indeed in love with Fenris the elf, and the idea that the torture of Fenris' painful past might be finally behind him, warmed him and made him smile.

The mage leaned against a table in the kitchen of the manor, a half eaten apple in his hand, and Fenris came into the room, smelling of impending heat.  Hawke was sure he'd seen the beginnings of a smile on his lover's lips and he was instantly curious what he might be up to.

"Something on your mind, Fen?  You realize of course there is no need to seduce me.  You'll get more than enough in an hour or two."  He winked at him then, now standing face to face, just inches apart.  Fenris wrapped his long arms around Hawke's shoulder's and kissed him lightly, the smile just a bit more obvious.  He turned then, releasing his hold on the mage, and leaned his back against him, casually tipping his head to one side and offering his neck.

Hawke was nearly undone.  This was most definitely _not_ how Fenris behaved.  He nuzzled into the warm flesh of his mate, inhaling the smell of him, unashamed in his desire.  He opened his mouth and drug it slowly, wetly, across the elf's muscle and skin, leaving a trail with tongue and teeth, then he wrapped his arms around the omega's waist, pulling him in.  He murmured something soft and sweet into the space below his ear, then rested his chin contentedly on his shoulder.  "What's on your mind, _da'mi_ ," he asked quietly.

Fenris folded his arms across Hawke's in front of him and snuggled back into him.  He had decided it was time.  The magister who had owned him was dead, and the suffocating sense of possession wasn't there anymore.  He loved the mage, and in recent days belonging to him had become all that mattered.  His voice was low, and he hesitated when he spoke.  "I'm ready, _ma vhenan_. If I haven't made you wait too long, and while I still have a clear head, I want you to know that I am ready, and I want the mark. I want everyone to see that I am _yours_."

Behind the elf, Hawke was barely able to contain his joy, and the obvious tone of submission sparked a wave of arousal that rolled all the way through him. He turned his mate around in his arms, and putting his hands to the elf's face, stared into his eyes.  He searched the shining green depths for a moment, looking for clarity and certainty, and found them both.  "Fenris, I would have waited until the last star blinked out in the sky," he whispered, then kissed him more deeply and desperately than he ever had before.

An hour later, the all-consuming desire of the omega's heat came over them both.  There was no need for tenderness or intimacy, in truth, there was no want of it either.  They fell breathless and sweat-covered into the bed, and Hawke took Fenris with deep and pounding strokes.  The omega groaned his name, and begged for more, and the mage fucked and rutted into him with the savage possession his mate longed for.  Then, in a blinding collision of biology and the most perfect love their ever was, the alpha sank his teeth hard into the omega's neck, just where it met his shoulder, and held him there until the last brutal thrusts spiraled into a flooding, maddening pleasure beyond anything Hawke had ever known.  His teeth sank deeper as he felt his release, and Fenris cried out in exquisite pain, knowing that this was _their_ moment, and that the blood that flowed from the wound meant they were bonded, flesh and soul, forever.

□.□.□.□.□.□

 


	3. Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The very happy ending.

□.□.□.□.□.□

There were stories that a bonded omega could die from heat, if not given release.  Whether or not this was true depended on who you asked, but the part that was perfectly clear was that they did get very, very sick.  An omega in heat will lie incoherent, writhing, sweating, for days.  For a bonded omega, it's even worse. They will not eat, nor drink, and can suffer immensely from dehydration.  Hawke knew this and brought water to Fenris, as soon as he could.  Fenris drank deeply, eyes closed, the sweat pouring off his body, his fever still rising.  He fell back onto the bed and started pulling at his clothes.

"Take it easy, _da'mi_.  I'm coming.  I'll take care of you," Hawke whispered, stroking his cheek, gently removing the rest of the elf's clothes. 

Male omegas, especially when they are in heat, leak.  Their bodies are self-lubricating, as the challenge of sex with a male alpha without it would be nearly insurmountable, and tragically painful at least.  Hawke looked down at Fenris and the glisten of moisture on the back of his thighs was almost the caster's undoing. 

Fenris rolled onto his belly, lifting his hips in the air.  "Hawke, please... _please_... " he moaned into the blankets, begging his mate for penetration, for knotting, for release.

Hawke, finally undressed, hormones nearly as out of control as the elf's, pulled his tortured lover to the edge of the bed, leaning over the hot, hard expanse of his back.  "I've got you, Fen.  I've got you," he whispered into the elf's neck, and without waiting, he guided his prick into the wonderful, tight wetness of his omega's body.

Fenris groaned and pushed back against him, rutting, begging still.  Hawke was near brutal in his passion, the pheromones driving them both mad with need.   Harder and deeper he pushed into the elf. Fenris moaned and begged, spreading his knees farther, fisting the blankets for leverage and slamming into every stroke.  "More, Hawke, _more!_ " he pleaded, and the mage gave him more.  Every inch, twisting and thrusting, holding the elf's hips, his thumbs biting into his flesh.  The alpha leaned over again, his mouth dragging and biting at the omega's shoulders, his back, "Whatever you need, Fen, whatever you need..." he whispered, grinding, pushing, fucking into the trembling body of the desperate omega, again and again.  Hawke was close to the edge and he wrapped his fingers around the silken flesh of the elf's cock, slowing the tempo of his thrusts inside him, then gently dragging his thumb across the leaking tip.  "I love you... " he murmured into the sweat of his mate's skin.  "Come for me, Fenris... it's time, _da'mi_  ..."

Fenris' body was awash in pleasure.  His mate, buried inside him, the slow deep strokes hitting just right, the gentle pull of Hawke's hand on the swollen hardness of his prick.  He moved, feeling the slow build as the alpha's cock stroked his prostate, wave after wave of sweet, tormenting fire burning through him, "Hawke..."

"I've got you, Fen.  It's alright.  Come for me..."

And finally Fenris did, his whole body becoming one brilliant beautiful coil of tension, wrapped around Hawke's hardness, pulling, contracting, and then finally, at last releasing.  "Hawke, finish... please, I _need_ you to finish..." he mumbled into the blankets, his body still trembling, the white, hot liquid of his climax falling under him on the bed.

Hawke lifted him by the hips, up and fully onto his cock, holding him there, knees nearly off the bed, and he fucked him, pounded him, hearing the elf's cries of pain, he went on, deeper and harder, and then at last, coming hard and full inside him.

Hawke fell on his side, drawing the shaking body of the elf to his chest.  He was still hard and buried completely, and Fenris pushed back against him, waiting for the knot.  "You are beautiful, Fenris, and strong, and wonderful, and I love you, _da'mi._   I love you," Hawke said in his ear, his hand grazing down Fenris' arms, over his hip, reaching up to move his hair from his eyes.  The knot grew, and Fenris moaned.  "Hawke... what you do to me... " he said softly, pulling his lover's arm tightly over his chest.  He was sure the knot would break him as it swelled, but it never did.  Hawke soothed him with murmurs and caresses as it grew, building a new pleasure between them, and when it stopped only at the limit of the omega's body, the alpha came again, dumping his seed as far into his mate as it would go. 

They lay together like that, Fenris exhausted and fighting sleep, and Hawke, gazing down at him, touching him, amazed at what he went through for them.  For _him_.  He pulled him tight, closing his eyes.  The unbreakable bond of the knot would not let them separate for hours, maybe until morning, and he kissed his sleeping mate gently, whispering words of praise in his ear, then finally fell asleep.  


 □.□.□

In the morning, Fenris woke to Hawke lifting his naked form from the bed.  He nuzzled against the mage's throat, wrapping his arms around his neck, and let himself be carried to the steaming bath he knew was waiting.  Hawke kissed the top of his head, "Good morning, _da'mi_ ," he smiled into his hair.  He lowered the elf into the water, soaping up the sponge to glide it over used and aching muscles.  Fenris leaned his head back, closing his eyes.  "Hmm...I love when you take care of me, Hawke.  There is something to be said for being a fucked out omega, I suppose."  Hawke laughed, and splashed water at the elf's closed eyes, and Fenris threw water back.  "Time to climb out, spoiled elf.  I'm done," Hawke said, a few minutes later, standing and offering a towel.  Fenris stood and stepped into the towel, shuddering as Hawke took his time drying him off.

"I see no bruises this time, Fen," Hawke breathed into his neck from behind him.  "Did I hurt you anywhere?"   Fenris stood, the towel over his shoulders, concealing and warming him everywhere.  His alpha wrapped his arms around him, holding him tight, planting kisses on his neck from behind.

Fenris turned, dropping the towel, and pulled his mouth down for a kiss.  "No, nothing hurts.   Hawke, please stop worrying over that.  I'm fine.  This is fine.  We're fine."  He smiled, chasing Hawke away so he could dress.

When Fenris came out of the room, dressed in his armor, Hawke knew the heat was done.  Sometimes, the knot was enough, and his mate's body would turn off the furnace of desire compelling him to mate.  Sometimes, it did not, and they would rut and groan together, a seemingly unnatural ability to orgasm again and again, for two or even three days.  Those times were hard on them both, as Fenris would come away covered in bruises and bites, and Hawke would carry the burden of his  loss of self-control and brutal treatment of his omega, for days.

"Feel better, then?"  He asked the elf, with a cautious and curious tone.  The smell of heat was gone.

"Yes. Definitely better," Fenris smiled.  This was the part of their dance that Hawke disliked the most.  Fenris would emerge from the bedroom, warrior elf again, and the tender and giving omega would be put away until the next cycle.  He was completely taken off guard when the elf, not usually one for afterglow, crossed the room and pressed himself against his chest.  Hawke drew Fenris in, strong, fierce arms holding him close, and kissed him, slowly, fully, the elf's unexpected affection taking his breath away. 

"You got me off the beach, Hawke," Fenris whispered against the mage's chest.  "I will never forget that you did that for me."

"You are mine, Fenris.  There is nothing I wouldn't do for you."  The warm and gentle tenderness from the elf had the mage nearly holding his breath, afraid to break the spell.  He held him close, softly caressing his back, taking in the smell of his damp hair.

"Hawke... " Fenris spoke softly, not moving from the embrace.

"Hmm?"

"My heat was early because I stopped taking the herbs. I put us all in danger. I should have told you."

Hawke's hand stopped against the elf's back, and he held his breath when he heard the words.  He bent his face down, pressing it against the omega's neck, and drew in a long pull of pheromones.  They had knotted last night, and there was no mistaking the unfamiliar and pleasant change in the omega's scent.

"Fenris....?"  he choked out, barely a whisper.

Fenris looked up at him and quietly nodded his head.  For the first time in all their years together, there were tears in the alpha's eyes.   "Hawke, you're not angry... right?"

"No, _da'mi_ ," he said, crushing him to his chest almost hard enough to bruise him.  "Maker, no, I'm not angry.  I am the happiest man in the world."

□.□.□.□.□.□

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading.
> 
> If you have a favorite a/b/o fic you'd care to share, I'd love to read it. Please leave the title in the comments!


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